[1] INTRODUCTION TO TRANSPORTATION ENGINEERING

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 Transportation
A transportation system may be defined as consisting of the fixed facilities,
the flow entities and the control system.
- Transportation contributes to the economic, industrial, social and cultural development
of any country.
- Transportation is vital for the economic development of any region since every
commodity produced whether it is food, clothing, industrial products or medicine needs
transport at all stages from production to distribution.

- The adequacy of transportation system of a country indicates its economic and

social development.

Advantages
The advantages of transportation may be summarized as follows:
i) It is for advancement of the community.
ii) It is essential for the economic prosperity and general development of the country.
iii) It is essential for strategic movement in emergency for defence of the country
and to maintain better law and order.
iv) It is essential for the improvement of rural areas by improving facilities for
education, health, business and other social needs in villages.

Modes of transportation
Following are the major modes of transportation.

A. Primary Modes
1. Roadways or Highways
2. Railways
3. Waterways
i) Inland ii) Coastal iii) Ocean
4. Airways
i) Domestic
ii) International
B. Secondary Modes
1. Ropeways
2. Pipelines
i) Water
ii) Gas
iii) Sewer
3. Canals
i) Irrigation Canal
ii) Storm water drainage ditch

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 4. Belt conveyers
(a) Roadways or Highways
The transportation by road is the only mode which could give maximum service to
one and all.
- This mode has also maximum flexibility for travel with reference to route, direction,
time and speed of travel etc. through any mode of road vehicle.
- It is possible to provide door to door service only by road transport.
- The other three modes, viz. airways, waterways and railways have to depend on
transportation by roads for the service to and from their respective terminals, airports,
harbours or stations.

- The roads or highways not only include the modern highway system but also to
provide independent facilities for road travel by a well-planned network of road
throughout the country, feeder roads, city roads, village roads and pedestrians. But
other modes do not provide such type of more facilities.

(b) Railways
The transportation along the railway track could be advantageous by railway
between the stations both for the passenger and goods, particularly for longer distances.
- The energy requirement to haul unit load through unit distance by railway is only a fraction
(¼th - ⅙th) of that required by road.
- Hence full advantage of this mode should be taken for the transportation of bulk
goods along land where the railway facilities are available.

(c) Waterways
Transportation by water is the slowest among the four modes; but this mode
needs minimum energy to haul unit load through unit distance.
- The transportation by water is possible between the parts on the sea routes or along
the rivers or canals where inland transportation facilities are available.

(d) Airways
The transportation by air is the fastest among four
modes.
- Air travel also provides more comfort apart from saving in transportation time
for the passengers and the goods between airports.

Advantages and Limitations of Highway over other Modes

Advantages
i) Roads are used by various types of vehicles; like passenger cars, buses, trucks,
two and three automobiles, cycles etc. But railway tracks are used only by rail

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 locomotives and wagons; waterways are used only by ships and boats.
ii) Road transport requires relatively small investment, since motor vehicles are
much cheaper than other carriers like rail locomotives and wagons, water and air
carriers.
iii) Construction and maintenance of roads are also cheaper than that of railway
tracks, docks, harbours and airports.
iv) Road transport offers a complete freedom to road users to transfer the vehicle
from one
lane to another. This flexibility of changes in location, direction, speed and timing
of travel is not available to other modes of transport.
v) In particular for short distance travel, road transport saves time.

Disadvantages
i) Road transport is subjected to a high degree of accidents due to flexibility of
movements offered to the road users, than other modes of transportation.
ii) It consist more land coverage and also takes more area for parking.
iii) It is more energy consuming and environmental polluting than other modes.

Role of Road Transportation in Rural Development of Rwanda

Since, over 80% population of the country living in the villages, the development in
urban areas alone do not indicate the overall development of the country.
- Only with the improvement in transportation facilities in rural areas, there could be
faster development of rural centres.
- The fertilizers and other inputs for agriculture and cottage industries could reach
the rural population easily and similarly the products can be sold at the nearest
marketing centres for more remunerative price resulting in faster economic growth and
decreased wastage.
- Through the proper facility of transportation, the education, health care and other
social needs in the village are increased and hence migration to urban centres decreases.
Due to increase of such facilities helping in balance development of the country.

[2] ROAD PLANS

Taking into consideration the international standard as well as Rwandan experience, RTDA has
established, Road Geometric Design Guideline and this describe a complete plan to consist of
the following:
1. Plan Title Sheet

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 2. Project Location Plan
3. Plan and Profile Drawings
4. Typical Section and Cross Sections
5. Structural Details
6. Road Furniture Details

1. Plan Title Sheet

The title sheet is a standard form and shows:
 Road functional classification number
 Project length and location
 Beginning and ending stations on the route map
 Design criteria such as design speed, maximum curvature, gradient, terrain class,…are
also tabulated.

Project Location Plan

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Project Location Plan
2. Plan and Profile Drawings
The plan and profile sheet is a standard form with the upper half for alignment and lower half
for profiles.
 Thick marks are shown at every 100m
 The alignment must be clearly defined with stationing, curve data, north symbols, etc.

Plan and Profile Drawings

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Plan and Profile Drawings
3. Typical Sections and Cross Sections
Typical cross section sheet must show section or sections with all dimensions such as:
 Lane
 Carriageway
 Shoulder widths
 And other details

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[3] FUNCTIONAL CLASSIFICATION

Concept
 Functional classification refers to distinct travel movements
 Main Movement; Transition, Distribution, Collection, Access, termination
 Most travel involves movement through network of roads and functional classification of
roads is consistent with categorization of travel
 Functional classification groups streets and highways according to the character of
service they are intended to provide
Hierarchy of movement
 Six recognizable stages in a trip include:
(1)Main movement (2) Transition (3) Distribution
(4)Collection (5) Access (6) Termination
• Main movement is uninterrupted, high speed flow on freeway
• Approaching destinations from the freeway, vehicles reduce speed on freeway ramps,
which acts as a transition roadways
• Vehicles then enter moderate speed arterials: distributor facilities

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 • They next enter collector roads that penetrate neighbourhoods
• They finally enter local access roads that provide direct approaches to individual
residences

Hypothetical highway trip using a freeway

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 Because it is impractical to provide direct line connections for every desire line (as in the
A) the trips should be channelized on a limited road network in the manner figure (B)

Functionally classified rural network

 Arterial highways generally provide direct service between large towns, this class of
highway has large proportion of the longer trips
 Collectors serve small towns directly, connecting them to
the arterial network
 Local roads serve individual farms and other land uses and connect these properties to
the collector and arterials

Functionally classified urban network

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  Hierarchy of systems is similar to rural system
 However because of the high intensity of land use and travel, specific travel generation
centers are more difficult to identify
 Intersection design and spacing are the additional considerations in urban areas

Functional system characteristics

 Urban and rural functional systems are classified separately
 Because both the areas have fundamentally different characteristics with regard to
density, land use, street networks, nature of travel patterns
 Urban areas: population of 5,000 or more
― Small urban areas (between 5,000 and 50,000)
― Urbanized areas (50,000 and over)
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  Rural areas are those areas outside the boundaries of urban areas
Functional systems

For Rural Areas For Urban Areas

Principal arterials (roads) Principal arterials (streets)

Minor arterials (roads) Minor arterials (streets)

Major collectors (roads) Collectors (streets)

Minor collectors (roads) Local streets

Local roads

 The rural principal arterial system (heavily travelled and high speed routes) is stratified
into the two design types: (1) Freeways (2) other principal arterials
 Major considerations in classifying road networks functionally are access and mobility
 Access is a fixed need for every area served by the highway system
 Mobility is provided at varying levels of service, which incorporates operating speed and
trip travel time

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Principal Arterial System
 Rural Areas:
― Corridor movement with length and
density suitable for substantial
statewide or interstate travel
― Movement between all urban areas
with populations over 50,000
― This class of highway includes most
heavily traveled routes (multilane
routes)
Principal Arterial System
 Rural Areas:
― Corridor movement with length and
density suitable for substantial
statewide or interstate travel
― Movement between all urban areas
with populations over 50,000
― This class of highway includes most
heavily traveled routes (multilane
routes)
Collector System
 Rural Areas:
― It serves travel of primarily intra-county
― Major collectors serve larger towns not
directly served by arterial systems
― Minor collector: To bring all developed
areas within reasonable distances of
collector roads
 Urban Areas:
― Through movement within the
urbanized areas and service to rurally
oriented traffic
― Almost all fully and partially controlled
access facilities are usually part of this
class
― It is not restricted to controlled-access
routes
― This class includes Interstate, other
freeways and other arterials (with
partial or no control of access)
 Urban Areas:
― Through movement within the
urbanized areas and service to rurally
oriented traffic
― Almost all fully and partially controlled
access facilities are usually part of this
class
― It is not restricted to controlled-access
routes
― This class includes Interstate, other
freeways and other arterials (with
partial or no control of access)
 Urban Areas:
― This system provides both land access
and traffic circulation within residential
and commercial and industrial areas
― This system may penetrate residential
neighborhoods, distributing trips from
the arterials through the area to their
ultimate destinations
― It may carry local bus routes and the
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 entire street grid of CBD
Local System

 Rural Areas:  Urban Areas:

― It provides access to land adjacent to
the collector network
― It serves travel over relatively short
distances
― It primarily permits direct access to
abutting lands and connections to the
higher order systems
― It offers the lowest level of mobility
and usually contains no bus routes
― Service to through-traffic movement
usually is deliberately discouraged

Classification of Roads in Rwanda

According to Rwanda Road Design Manual, the roads are classified as Classification by
Services.

i) National Roads (NR) ii) Rural Feeder Roads (FR) iii)District Roads (DR) Class I
iv) Urban Street Roads (St) v) Village Roads (VR) vi)District Roads (DR) Class II

(i) National Roads

National Highways are main highways connecting East to West and North to South of
the country. The road connecting National Roads to regional headquarters shall also be classified
as National Roads.
- These serve directly the greater portion of the longer distance travel, provide consistently higher
level of service in terms of travel speeds and bear the inter-community mobility.
- These roads shall be the main arterial routes passing through the length and breadth of the
country as a whole.

(ii) Feeder Roads

Feeder Roads are important roads of localized nature, which connect district
headquarters and/or zonal headquarters to National Highways.
- Feeder roads are of secondary nature in the hierarchy of the road network.
- It is further classified into: (a) Feeder Roads Major (FRN)
(b) Feeder Roads Minor (FRO)

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